12 Apps to Keep You From Hating Your Roommates

Living with roommates isn’t always easy. But as with most annoying tasks in life, you can download an app or two to help. There are many kinds of apps that you aren’t using, but should be. And for anyone sharing an apartment or a house with another person, we’d add apps that make it easier to deal with roommates to that list.

Download the right apps and you can avoid awkward confrontations with your roommate (or roommates). The right app can increase your odds of finding a roommate you won’t hate, for starters. Once you have a roommate or two, other apps can help you keep track of chores fairly. You can divide up expenses. And you can communicate with everybody in the house all at one time, which schedules may not permit you to do in person.

We don’t have a magic formula to ensure peace in your house or apartment. And we don’t have a perfect solution for making sure that you and your roommates don’t end up wanting to kill each other. But if living with roommates is a fact of life for you, we think that these apps will go a long way toward preventing passive-aggressive conversations, frequent confrontations, and a whole lot of awkwardness.

1. Chooserrr

Chooserrr helps you delegate tasks | iStock.com/monkeybusinessimages

Living with roommates often means compromising — and figuring out whose turn it is to take out the trash or to choose a movie. Chooserrr makes it easier to share tasks and responsibilities. You can create tasks and the app will randomly pick someone who’s responsible. You can also play “Not It” if you need a fun way to figure out who’s going to clean the bathroom or scrub the microwave. And you can even chat with your roommates right in the app.

2. Cola

Cola helps you create shared to-do lists | iStock.com/Milkos

If you live with somebody, chances are good that you text them on a semi-regular basis. Make your messaging conversations more productive with an app like Cola. The app features bubbles that help you get more done in a message, whether you’re texting one person or several. Without leaving the app, you can take quick polls, track flights, share weather forecasts, create shared to-do lists with delegated tasks, share your location, schedule events, and more.

3. Handy

Handy helps you find professionals who can help you with everyday tasks | iStock.com/AntonioGuillem

Some repairs are probably handled (and paid for) by your landlord. But others are your responsibility. If neither you nor your roommates are particularly DIY-savvy, consider downloading Handy. The app makes it easy to find trusted professionals who can clean your house, assemble your furniture, paint your walls, mount your TV, hang pictures or shelves, or even help you move. Handy pros can also do electrical or plumbing work. It’s the perfect app to have downloaded and at the ready in case you need it.

4. HomeSlice

Creating shopping lists, splitting bills, and fairly dividing up chores are frequent sticking points even in relatively amicable roommate relationships. Let Android app HomeSlice cut down on the awkwardness. The app enables you to exchange messages with your roommates to stay up to date with what’s going on. It makes creating and sharing shopping lists easy, and helps you track and split bills. Additionally, it helps keep track of whose turn it is to complete which chores and enables you to send and receive private messages.

5. Our Groceries

Our Groceries can help you create a shared shopping list | iStock.com/undrey

When you share an apartment or a house, you have one kitchen and one refrigerator. So it’s pretty much inevitable that you’ll end up sharing groceries with your roommates. Our Groceries, which is available for iOS and Android, makes it easier to manage the grocery shopping. You can create a shared grocery list that’s automatically kept up to date on everybody’s phone. You can create separate shopping lists, or just use one. You can also organize items by category or aisle to make the shopping easier.

6. Roomi

Need a new roommate? Download Roomi | iStock.com/sjenner13

Finding the right roommates is half the battle — a battle that you’ll win with Roomi. This app enables you to search thousands of verified listings to find roommates you’ll actually get along with. The app does a great job of filtering out brokers, scams, and sketchy real estate dealers. If you’re looking for a place to live, you can see the amenities, house rules, and map before you visit. Or, you can list your place for free.

7. Roomie Match

Roomie Match will also help you find the perfect roommate | iStock.com/JackF

Another great app to help you find the perfect roommate is Roomie Match. All roommate profiles are reviewed by humans, and Roomie Match promises that “anyone raising our scam, spam, or scum red flags will be immediately eliminated, before they get to you.” The app helps you pick the best roommate with required questions, behavior ratings, and actual locations.

8. Splitwise

Need an easy way to keep track of bills and IOUs? Splitwise, which you can use on Android, iOS, or even on the web, can help. It takes the trouble out of sharing expenses with your roommates by doing the math for you. It also enables you and your roommates to pay each other back in one big payment, instead of multiple small ones, to cover everything you owe. It can send friendly email reminders about bills that are due. And Splitwise can also give you advice on a variety of common problems.

9. Tody

Tody helps you manage your chores | iStock.com/monkeybusinessimages

Cleaning the house is never anybody’s first priority. And basic chores can quickly fall by the wayside in shared houses or apartments. Use Tody to manage your household’s chores. It can figure out how often tasks need to be completed, and can visualize messes to motivate you and your roommates to clean. You can even turn cleaning into a game and keep track of who’s doing what if it helps you to get things done.

10. UpTo

Plenty of roommates share a Google calendar with no problems. But if you need an easier way to keep track of who’s going where and when, consider UpTo. The app syncs with all of your other calendars and makes it easy to get a broad view of what’s coming up. But it also makes it easy to share calendars across mobile operating systems and between services like Google Calendar and Outlook. In other words, it should make it easy for you and your roommates to keep track of important dates and deadlines no matter your specific workflows.

11. Venmo

Venmo makes paying your roommates easy | iStock.com/AntonioGuillem

It’s important to find a simple way to pay your roommate, whether it’s hundreds of dollars for rent or $10 for the snacks they picked up for you at the corner store. Venmo is pretty much the gold standard when it comes to apps that enable you to send money. You can pay your roommate with money you have in Venmo, or you can link your bank account or debit card. Money will transfer from Venmo to your bank account in as little as a business day — which is great if you’re collecting money from your roommates to pay rent to your landlord.

12. Yes/No

Sometimes, you just need a quick answer from your roommates. Are they up for grabbing dinner at the restaurant around the corner? Do they need anything from the drugstore? Are they planning to be home this afternoon? Get quick answers to your questions with Yes/No, a simple messaging app for Android and iOS. The app enables you to ask simple yes or no questions, and makes it easy for your roommates to get you quick answers. Sometimes, that’s all you need.